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For small and medium sized developers, the Government will introduce a new exemption for developments with a site area of 0.2 hectares or less, provided no onsite priority habitat is impacted.
The development sector will have hoped for a higher threshold, nevertheless, the 0.2 hectare exemption is still significant. The Government expects it to exempt around 50% of residential planning permissions that would otherwise have been required to deliver BNG. The government’s rationale for this change is set out in their announcement:
“This means the smallest developments, where the cost and administrative burden is proportionately highest, will no longer need to deliver BNG. This will benefit local authority capacity too, meaning they can focus resources on the bigger residential schemes, where greater biodiversity gains can potentially be made.”
The Government also recognise the likely impact of the BNG sector more widely, estimating that the number of baseline biodiversity units compensated for under mandatory biodiversity net gain will reduce by around 12% and demand for off-site biodiversity units falling by around 10%.
The existing self-build and custom-build exemption will be removed. These are widely recognised as being unwieldy and overly burdensome for both developers and local authorities. Many such sites will be captured by the new area based exemption. New targeted exemptions will also be introduced for temporary permissions of five years or less, biodiversity-led development, and certain improvements to parks, public gardens and playing fields, although some of those measures will follow later in the year.
The Government will also implement further changes to the Small Sites Metric as it moves the current Excel-based metric tools towards a digital, integrated service with interactive mapping and better system compatibility. It will also consider simplified approaches for watercourse condition assessment across proposals, where appropriate.
Where a scheme is required to deliver biodiversity net gain, the biodiversity gain hierarchy will be amended so that off-site biodiversity gains sit on the same preference level as onsite habitat enhancement and creation, while statutory credits remain a last resort. This should make off-site procurement easier for developers.
Subject to parliamentary scheduling, secondary legislation for the first tranche of changes is expected before summer recess 2026, with commencement intended before 31 July 2026. Until then, the current BNG regime remains in force.
These changes do not mark the end of proposed reform of the BNG regime. On 15 April, the Government opened a further consultation on introducing a targeted BNG exemption for residential brownfield development, with potential thresholds up to 2.5 hectares. If introduced, this could unlock significant development opportunities on sites which have stalled, in part, due to the viability challenges posed by having to provide BNG.
The current proposals will be a welcome boost to the development sector. But the Government needs to be more radical if it is going to achieve its target of building 1.5 million homes this parliament.
For more information on biodiversity net gain, or for other planning related matters, please call our expert Planning team on +44(0)3333 231580 or contact us via email.
